One of the strangest NBA ownership stories in years surfaced this week, and it somehow manages to be both absurd and revealing at the same time.
Pablo Torre, speaking on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, shared a story involving Robert Pera, the controlling owner of the Memphis Grizzlies, and Justin Timberlake, who is one of the team’s minority partners.
“So Timberlake is an owner of the Memphis Grizzlies. He’s one of the limited partners of the Memphis Grizzlies.”
“But the real owner, Robert Pera, the controlling majority owner, I’m told separately, was once told by a woman he met out one night that he was not, in fact, the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies because she had read that Justin Timberlake was the owner of the Memphis Grizzlies.”
“And Robert Pera, the owner, was so mad that he threatened to buy out the rest of his minority owners. Because how embarrassing is it to be the real guy, only for Timberlake to get your shine.”
What made the moment even more revealing was just how far Pera was willing to take it. According to Torre, he was not merely annoyed or embarrassed. He was furious enough to threaten to buy out all of the Grizzlies’ minority owners on the spot. That list includes Jessica Biel, Justin Timberlake, Barry Klarberg, and Michael Heisley.
The irony is that this bizarre story is emerging at a far more serious moment for Pera.
In recent days, Pera has been linked to troubling allegations involving his company, Ubiquiti Networks. A hedge fund report and subsequent investigations claim that communications equipment manufactured by Ubiquiti has surfaced in the hands of the Russian military during the war in Ukraine, despite U.S. sanctions. The reports allege that this technology may have been used to support drone operations, including strikes on civilian targets.
To be clear, these are allegations, not proven findings. Still, they have drawn significant attention because of the gravity of what is being claimed. Ubiquiti has previously faced sanctions-related issues, including a fine in 2014 after its equipment was found in Iran. That history has only intensified scrutiny around the current accusations.
The contrast between the two narratives is striking. On one hand, you have a billionaire owner reportedly furious that people think a pop star owns his team. On the other hand, you have serious questions being raised about whether his business operations may be entangled, even indirectly, in an international conflict the United Nations has labeled a humanitarian crisis.
It also raises uncomfortable questions for the NBA.
For now, the Timberlake story plays like a darkly comic footnote. But it also exposes something real about power, ego, and visibility in modern sports ownership. Celebrity often trumps control. Perception often matters more than reality. And sometimes, being the richest person in the room still is not enough to stop someone else from stealing your spotlight.
As the larger investigation unfolds, that uncomfortable truth may end up being the least of Robert Pera’s concerns.
